PhotoShelter is a web app that allows photographers to easily create highly effective websites, allowing them to sell, market, and store their photography online. By applying our CRE Methodology™ to PhotoShelter’s website, we have helped them to double their annual sales. This is money that will continue to pay every year.
How we got those improvements
When we started working with PhotoShelter, they were already well beyond the stage of obtaining product/market fit; they were a successful business operating in a market that was relatively mature (at least in web terms) and competitive. They would never have doubled their sales if they had not aggressively tested their website to find improvements.
(Sidenote: if your company, product, service, web app, or whatever, is still in its embryonic stages, we’d highly recommend you read these resources from four very intelligent guys: this article by Paul Buchheit, who created Gmail, this one by venture capitalist Paul Graham, this slide deck by Dave McClure, and these videos by retired entrepreneur Steve Blank.)
We have run eight tests so far. Some of our recommendations are still in development, because they involve larger-scale changes to PhotoShelter’s strategy and business model. However, we can show you the following things, which are likely to be applicable for your own business:
1. How we improved the offer
Our surveys revealed that PhotoShelter’s visitors were anxious to try out the product. PhotoShelter already had a free version, but it had limited features, and an analysis of the business data revealed that it wasn’t particularly effective in persuading users to upgrade to the paid versions. On the other hand, we found that once a user tried the fully functional version of PhotoShelter, they were much more likely to continue to use it.
Armed with this insight, we established that our goal was to get as many visitors as possible to try out the fully functional paid version, by offering a no-risk $1 trial of it. The new conversion funnel was more popular with visitors, as determined by a split test.
Split testing an offer based on customer service feedback increased profits.
The old call to action (on the left) and the new one (on the right). The $1 offer was effective in increasing the profit. Notice how each call to action included text to reassure people about the details of the offer. To get a free PDF containing a powerful but simple “bonus tip”, subscribe to our free newsletter.
The split test was carried out using Google Website Optimizer, but also involved an analysis of PhotoShelter’s back-end system to compare the lifetime customer value of each group of customers.
2. How we got to understand the value of the service—so we could communicate it better
To better understand PhotoShelter’s service and its customers, we
- organized discussions with serious photographers
- became paying customers of PhotoShelter
- surveyed PhotoShelter’s existing clients
- surveyed PhotoShelter’s prospects
The insights gleaned from this research allowed us to better communicate PhotoShelter’s benefits, as seen through the eyes of its prospects.
Throughout the site, we used direct language about how PhotoShelter benefits photographers—based on things we knew they cared about, using language that we knew would resonate with them. See how this stuff is no longer guesswork once you have carried out work to “get under the skin” of the customers?
For example, we reworded PhotoShelter’s table of benefits, prioritizing features that we knew the customers cared about, and expressing them in words that they would understand.
Features were prioritized—and expressed in plain English.
3. A subtle—but effective—change to the architecture of the site
We surveyed the people who converted, to understand what made them different from those who didn’t. They reported that viewing examples of other photographers’ PhotoShelter websites had persuaded them to get their own.
An analysis of Google Analytics data confirmed that people who converted were much more likely to have seen examples of existing PhotoShelter websites.
Interestingly, this vital content was not prominently featured in PhotoShelter’s conversion funnel. We consequently added the Examples page to the global navigation bar. This subtle change may appear to have been trivial, but a split test confirmed it had increased the site’s overall sales by 12%.
We added the Examples page to the global navigation bar—and increased sales by 12%.
4. Getting new customers to engage with the product ASAP
With all companies, the conversion funnel extends far beyond the first sale. This is particularly true of web apps, which are usually charged as a monthly payment. We analyzed PhotoShelter’s entire customer journey to identify opportunities for increasing the customers’ satisfaction—and hence the lifetime customer value.
As soon as a prospect signed up, we wanted them to start using the product immediately. So we removed all distractions, showing the user a linear path towards getting their first site set up. So, for example, we changed the user journey so that customers were encouraged to upload photos immediately after signing up.
Removing distractions: we changed the user journey to encourage customers to take the vital next steps.
Additionally, in response to customer surveys, we worked with PhotoShelter to create more help resources for new customers, to make it easier for them to get value from PhotoShelter.
Important lessons
- Test what matters most! Many people think that CRO involves tweaking different buttons, or following some set of “best practices”. The truth is that you have to identify the critical parts of your conversion funnel—then be brave enough to test bold changes to them! With PhotoShelter, testing the offer was scary, but the pay-off was large.
- Discover what your customers care about, then show it to them! Photoshelter’s customers were happy to give feedback. We just had to ask them for it! We identified the key “persuasion assets” that customers stated as having been important in persuading them to convert. One example was seeing examples of real PhotoShelter-powered sites.
- Urge people to take action. Split testing verified the benefits of adding more calls to action. Once prospects converted, our job was not over: we needed to turn them into happy lifelong customers—ones who would recommend PhotoShelter to their friends. To discover another very simple yet extremely valuable change we made to PhotoShelter’s site, subscribe to our newsletter. The odds are your site is not doing this and you are missing out on conversions right now. Discover this simple change to increase your site’s conversion rate!
Some of the tools and techniques we used
- We spoke with photographers and carried out usability tests with them.
- To learn from visitors, we conducted exit surveys using 4Q.
- We also emailed customers to engage them directly, which proved to be overwhelmingly successful. PhotoShelter is lucky to have such devoted customers. The help they provided was priceless!
- We used Google Website Optimizer, which is a free and powerful testing tool. If you want to find out which testing software is best for you, check out our other site, Which Multivariate, which gives a complete comparison of multivariate testing solutions.
- We also became paying customers of PhotoShelter and set up our own sites.
We set up our own PhotoShelter site, to give ourselves a better understanding of the full customer experience, including the objections, the concerns, the problems and the emotions.
Thank you to PhotoShelter
PhotoShelter’s willingness to move forward with bold changes allowed them to double sales, and they’re still growing! Successful conversion rate optimization requires a commitment from the consultants and the company; PhotoShelter certainly held up their end of the deal!
PhotoShelter has a great service and is helping over 60,000 photographers show their work. They are helping many of them make a living from doing what they love.
PhotoShelter’s CEO, Allen Murabayashi, describing the conversion rate optimization process.
This will work for your site!
Take one step at a time. The first step is to listen to the people interacting with your site. Give them the opportunity to talk to you, and you’ll discover eye-opening insights!
Based on these insights, make changes to your site, then use split testing software to test the changes, so you can discover what your visitors prefer.
Our gift to you: a free PDF containing a powerful but simple “bonus tip”
To get a great additional tip that was incredibly effective for this project with PhotoShelter, subscribe to our free newsletter. We’ll send you a copy of the PDF straight away.
(If you’re already signed up to receive our email newsletter, you don’t need to sign up again to receive the free PDF; we’ll email you a copy of it.)
The tip is a simple change to your site that most companies aren’t using. It’s applicable to pretty much any website. Our newsletter goes out fairly infrequently: it contains truly valuable information, and you can easily unsubscribe whenever you wish (though few people ever do). You can get it here.
To get a free PDF containing a powerful but simple “bonus tip”, subscribe to our free newsletter.
Learn more
Want to learn more about how you can improve your site? See our Services page. You can also read more case studies for companies involved in software, travel and recruitment. These how-to guides will come in useful too.
Kudos to PhotoShelter for letting you try a bold change like that! So very cool that they were willing to do it and that it was such a contributor later to the lift.
I also loved the video from the CEO and think it’s neat how he recognizes that testing requires a different mindset from what you would normally have if you hadn’t instilled that into your culture. It really is easy to get distracted to other things you think you should be doing (add more features!) instead of finding new ways to work with what you’ve already got.
As always, I learn a lot from these. Thanks for sharing and for the pdf with the special tip!
Great article guys! Just one thing, you didnt mention the stats for people actually completing the exit survey and also what incentive did you offer to get people to fill the survey in?
Hi Gary. We used 4Q for the exit survey. It doesn’t report the completion rate. We didn’t offer any incentive.
Another great example that shows, you really need a fresh pair of eyes to look at your (already great) web project. Nice work, go team CRE
Great great great! Every time I come here I learn more! Thanks for sharing these great cases and work! You guys are doing amazing!
You guys are just rockstars !
Thank you for sharing your insights into what it takes to really improve conversion rates.
I love this simple example of how a call to action can change things so drastically..